Chapter 4
Two hours later, I was back at Cruel World Travel, eating Duke's amazing chicken soup. Still feeling a little logy but better than before...physically, anyway. Briar had insisted I let the paramedics drag me down to the medical center in the ambulance, but the doctor there had found nothing wrong with me.
My state of mind was another matter. Now that I knew for a fact that something wicked had entered Aggie's life, I was filled with foreboding. My level of hope had taken a massive hit.
And then there was that memory. The vision of the man on the hill and the city on the coastal plain. I didn't know if it was real or fake, but I couldn't get it out of my mind. Kept playing it back, over and over, dissecting every detail. It made no more sense the fiftieth time I watched it than it had the first time.
What a day.
"Have some more soup." Duke refilled my bowl from his red thermos. "And eat those crackers, too."
"I'm not hungry." It was true, though I had to admit the soup was perking me up a little. "And I don't want you giving me all your lunch."
"I'll order out." Duke pointed a finger at the little stack of saltines on my desk, then pointed at me and raised his eyebrows. "Now eat."
I picked up a cracker to get him off my case. The truth was, he didn't need to eat food in his current form, and we both knew it...but we worked together to keep up the illusion. To make him feel like a human being again.
"Aggie's in deep shit," I told him. "I'm talking pure evil."
"But you don't know where she is," said Duke. "And you don't know who or what is behind that evil."
I shook my head as I swallowed more soup. "It's powerful, Duke. That's all I know. Stronger than me, maybe."
Duke frowned and leaned his hands on the desk. "I've put the word out on the network, asking for help from far and wide. If she's out there, they'll find her."
"God, Duke." I shuddered as a feeling of dread crawled through me. "What if she's not out there anymore?"
Duke met my gaze and held it, locking his deep brown eyes to my blue ones. "As far as we know, she's still alive and kicking, earth angel. Don't write her off yet."
I picked up a saltine, then put it down again. Zero appetite. "I think I might be responsible somehow, Duke. When I read the entombed cat, I had some kind of vision. A flash of memory, I think."
"What kind of memory?"
"I was on a hill overlooking a strange city. Talking to a man with blond hair who I'd never seen before." I sighed and pushed away the bowl of soup. "What if he's involved? What if I'm involved, and I don't even realize it because I can't remember?"
"How did the man in the memory make you feel?" God bless Duke, he didn't question my story, he just wanted details. "Did he seem threatening?"
"Not threatening." I closed my eyes and thought back. "He kissed me. I didn't push him away."
"Hmm." Duke leaned back and stroked his salt-and-pepper mustache. "And you have no other memory of this man?"
"None." I opened my eyes. "Maybe I picked up someone else's memory. Like an afterimage. Maybe it's one of Aggie's."
"Have you ever done that before?" said Duke. "Soaked up someone's memories by coming in contact with an object?"
I shrugged. "First time for everything."
Duke narrowed his eyes. "What about the substance you touched? The stone shell around the cat? Did you recognize that?"
"There's another mystery," I said. "The cat was encased in hardened ash and mud. Volcanic ash and mud. What they call pyroclastic material. But here's the thing." I sat back in my chair and folded my arms over my chest. "To create a shell like that, it would have had to engulf the cat in a molten flow at temperatures thousands of degrees Fahrenheit, then been flash-frozen at hundreds of degrees below zero."
"But there was no evidence of a process like that in the apartment, was there?" said Duke.
"Which means there was someone with special abilities involved." I nodded grimly. "Someone with control over temperatures and volcanic material like nothing I've seen before."
"But why do it?" said Duke. "Why go to the trouble of encasing the cat and leaving it in the apartment like that?"
I rubbed my eyes hard with the heels of my hands. I felt tired and wired and hopeless all at once. "A message, I guess. A calling card."
"Poor Aggie," said Duke. "What did she get herself in the middle of?"
Just then, the "Caravan" ringtone played, and the front door flew open. Turning, I saw Briar march in with a fistful of crumpled paper.
"You and I need to take a drive," he said. I could tell from the tension in his voice that he hadn't found Aggie.
"Where to?" I said.
"Secret Valley," said Briar. "You okay to travel?"
"What's Secret Valley have to do with anything?" Secret Valley's a popular ski resort an hour south of Confluence; I couldn't think of a connection to Aggie, except that she might have gone skiing there at some point.
"Divinities Enterprises." Briar slapped the crumpled papers on the desk in front of me. "This was in with Aggie's mail, but it wasn't stamped or postmarked. The postal service didn't deliver it."
The top sheet included a logo for Divinities Enterprises, encircled by what looked like a ring left behind by red-lipsticked lips. Below the logo in flowing script were the words, "Experience The Powers of Love."
"It's a dating club, from what I can tell," said Briar. "Ultra-exclusive. Beyond high rent. Caters to the Washington, D.C. elite."
I could accept that. Secret Valley was just two hours from D.C. "What does this have to do with Aggie?" As I asked the question, I flipped to the second page...and my question was answered.
Right there, in full color, was a photo of Aggie, a soft-focus glamour shot. Surrounded by a nimbus of light, she grinned as if she'd just been laughing, eyes slightly crinkled. Her full, dark hair framed her face and flowed over her shoulders, one lock falling over her glittering left eye. She wore a low-cut black evening gown dusted with silver sequins, pinned with a silver brooch shaped like the Greek letter "alpha." One hand was upraised; she was waving at the camera. So beautiful, so friendly, so welcoming.
"Meet TV's First Lady of Weather," it said above the photo. "Aegle Regal Can Be Yours." That was what it said underneath.
"They used her real name," I said. "Aegle."
"Divinities has an event this weekend at Secret Valley," said Briar. "According to that flyer, she's scheduled to be there."
I scowled at the photo on the flyer. "She never said anything about it to me."
"Maybe she didn't want you to know," said Briar.
"Or maybe she didn't know, either," said Duke. "Maybe it wasn't her idea to be there."
"It does seem like a big coincidence." Briar cleared his throat. "She goes missing the day before she's the star attraction at a high rollers dating club no one's heard of."
"'Aegle Regal Can Be Yours.'" As I read the words out loud, I felt my stomach twist.
"Maybe a bachelorette auction?" said Duke. "Win a date with the TV weathergirl?"
"This feels more like a for-profit operation to me," said Briar.
"Why use her real name?" I kept staring at the photo, haunted by the image of Aggie waving at the camera. It was like she was waving goodbye. "Everyone knows her as Aggie."
"I think it's safe to say your world's involved in this," said Briar. "It has a dark side, doesn't it?"
"Yes." My voice sounded far away. All I could focus on was Aggie waving in the photo. Goodbye, Gaia. Goodbye. Suddenly, I had the terrible feeling I was never going to see her alive again, and nothing I did could change that. She'd always been there for me, and I'd let her down for good when she'd needed me the most. Any action I took from that point on would be futile.
But what else could I do?
I might be prone to manic upswings and depressive downturns, but those aren't the only two things that drive and define me. I also need to have answers, and I never give up. If it's an unstoppable killer I'm tracking or an i
mpossible trip I'm planning, I'll never give up. If it looks like all is lost, and I'm sunk in the deepest trough of the darkest phase of my inescapable misery, I'll still never give up.
And I will never, ever give up on a true friend, no matter the cost.
"Okay." I folded the papers neatly and got up from my chair. "Let's see what the hell's going on at Secret Valley."
"I'm coming, too." Duke headed for the coat rack. "I think you might need me."
I didn't argue with him. His instincts were never wrong. Didn't even have to ask if he had his work caught up for the day, because he always did.
I stuffed the folded flyer in the pocket of my jeans and marched out the door. My heart was racing. Just as I'd had the feeling of dread for Aggie's fate, I had another feeling, too. One that made adrenaline sizzle through my bloodstream with anticipation. With the expectation of going to war.
I had a feeling I was moving one step closer to whoever was behind this. The evil presence looming over my soul.
*****
Chapter 5
The parking lot of the main lodge at Secret Valley ski resort was wall-to-wall luxury cars. Nothing but Beamers, Mercedes, Jaguars, Rolls Royces, and Hummers as far as the eye could see. Lots of uniformed chauffeurs hanging around smoking and shooting the bull. Not a budget car in sight; not a hybrid except for my Toyota Highlander.
The main lot was so full, we had to park in an upper lot and walk down a hill to the lodge. Could've parked curbside if we'd brought Briar's cruiser, but I'd insisted on driving us in the Highlander. Better to arrive as civilians instead of announcing there was a cop in the house; maybe we could find out a few things before the sons of bitches burned all the records and hustled the senators and ambassadors into secret tunnels.
I'd even made Briar change into his civvies—a black suit and tie he kept only for funerals. As wound up as I was, as much as I'd rather have charged in like a bull and demolished the china shop, I at least had enough clarity to come up with a plan of attack for the three of us.
"So I'm the big shot." Duke smiled and slicked back his wavy black hair with one hand. "I like that."
"You're a record company executive," I said. "Mister..."
"Strayhorn," said Duke. "Reginald Strayhorn. And forget the music business. I'm in gold, not gold records."
"And you..." I hiked a thumb at Briar. "You're his bodyguard. I'll be his secretary."
"Whatever." Briar shot me a look.
"Got a problem with that?" I said.
"I'd never buy you as a secretary," said Briar.
"Good thing I don't have to convince you then."
"I'm just saying." Briar shrugged. "Security, maybe. We could both be security."
"Seriously?" I felt insulted. "I'm not the secretary type?"
"Secretary of brutality, maybe." Briar smirked.
"Guess I'd better get into my role, then." I punched his arm hard enough to get his attention. "How's that?"
Briar didn't flinch. "We're agreed then. Both of us are security. But let me do the talking. I'll be chief."
"I think the one of us who can throw rocks and trigger quakes with her super powers should be the chief." I punched him again. "I'm just saying."
Just then, Duke spoke up. "Should I ask about Aggie right off the bat?"
His question ended our little round of teasing. Ended that bit of nervous release and snapped me back fully to the gravity of the moment. "Let's play it by ear. Worry about getting us in the door first."
"Worry?" Duke tugged the collar of his black silk shirt and pushed between me and Briar, strutting out in front of us. "I've been the honored guest of the crown heads of the world. There isn't a high class soiree I can't talk my way into."
*****
The main lodge at Secret Valley was huge—three sprawling floors of banquet halls, meeting rooms, restaurants, shops, and boutiques. A twelve-story hotel loomed at one end, its sleek glass and metal tower a counterpoint to the rough-hewn timbers of the alpine-style lodge.
The place was jumping when we entered the lobby. Lots going on other than the Divinities mixer. Though it was summer, and Secret Valley was busiest during ski season, the lodge was still bursting with activity.
Upscale teens hustled past carrying mountain bikes and skateboards; the place was geared toward extreme sports in the skiing off-season. Also geared toward illicit hookups for cheating spouses within a hundred-mile radius—close enough to drive to, far enough from home to get away with shit. And of course, it was a hot spot for all manner of monkey business, drawing sneaks from as far away as Pittsburgh, D.C., and Baltimore. Secret Valley had a real outlaw, wink wink, look-the-other-way atmosphere; the name fit the place to a "T." It was no surprise Divinities Enterprises was having its party there.
They weren't exactly advertising it, though. We couldn't find a sign anywhere in the lobby pointing the way...also not a surprise if this was an exclusive high roller shindig.
Instead of spending the afternoon randomly barging into ballrooms, we decided to try the front desk. Trot out the undercover routine and see if it held up.
"Excuse me." Briar went in first, all business. "Can you tell us how to find the Divinities Enterprises meeting?"
The girl behind the timber counter was primped, plucked, padded, and perky. Had to be in her forties, maybe older, but she was prettied up like a doll baby lacking only a bow on top. Looked prettier from a distance, though—curly blonde Goldilocks hair, tanned face, body of a skinny teenager packed into a tight white pantsuit. Close up, I thought the hair looked like a wig, too perfectly shaped; the tan came from too much makeup, and the body was scrawny. Plus she smelled strongly of cigarette smoke.
But she couldn't have been nicer. "I'll be happy to direct you to the meeting." She said it with a grin revealing a city block of bright white teeth, all perfectly straight. "Just let me check the guest list. Name please?"
My hopes of an easy way in went up in cigarette smoke. We were going to have to play our cop access card sooner than I'd expected.
At least, that's what I thought until Duke stepped forward. "Strayhorn. Reginald Strayhorn." He said it grandly, with the proud elocution of an aristocrat and an overlay of flirtatious charm. "And you are...?" He reached for her hand.
She gave it to him. "Millicent." Smiled wider and bowed her head. "Millicent Kendall."
"Enchanté." Duke held on to her hand after he'd kissed it. "It is my very great pleasure to meet you, my dear."
"It's my pleasure as well, Mr. Strayhorn," said Millicent.
He kissed her hand once more, then slowly released it as if he were letting go of a flower. "Your boyfriend is an extraordinarily lucky man."
"Your girlfriend is lucky, too." Millicent raised an eyebrow. "Or would that be girlfriends plural?"
"I'll tell you everything, dear Millie," said Duke, "if only you will grace me with your telephone number."
Millicent tipped her head to one side and narrowed her eyes. Looked a little suspicious. "What's a nice guy like you doing with that Divinities bunch? You don't seem like the type."
"I'm not." Duke sighed and threw up his hands. "It's all business for me. I'm hoping to close a major deal this weekend. I wish I didn't have to be here at all." Duke looked distraught...then smiled. "At least that's what I wished before I met you."
Millicent giggled and pushed blonde curls behind her ears like a schoolgirl. "Why can't all men be more like you?"
"I was just asking myself the same question," said Duke, "about women being more like you."
While this went on, I looked at Briar, who raised his eyebrows and nodded his approval of Duke's technique. The old guy was smooth, that's for sure; I'd seen him in action many times with humans and nymphs alike at Cruel World.
"Okay, honey." Millicent scribbled on a notepad, then ripped off the page, flipped it over, and scribbled some more. "Here's your directions." She held up the note and flapped it in front of him. "And this..." She flipped the note and tapped it with one Fren
ch-manicured fingernail. "...is my phone number. My cell phone number. Do you need directions for that, too?"
"Not at all, my dear." Duke slid the note from her hand. "No further guidance of any kind is necessary." He gave her a wink. "I know exactly what comes next."
Millicent giggled and fluttered her fingers over his forearm. "I'll bet you do."
*****
Chapter 6
Following the directions in Millicent's note, we hurried down the central corridor to the far end of the main lodge. Passed the open doors of the Blue Spruce ballroom there and cut left down a side hallway. Pushed through a gray fire door...and found ourselves standing outside the building.
"She sent us on a wild goose chase." Briar stood with his hands on his hips and shook his head. "Nice move."
I nodded and looked around. We were truly at the butt end of the lodge, standing on a pad of buckled blacktop surrounded by piles of brick, cinder block, and wood timbers. Shaded by a corner of the lodge roof overhead and concealed by a wall of corrugated gray plastic.
"No, no. Millicent took care of us." Duke pointed at what looked like a double-wide portable outhouse twenty feet away. It was roughly trapezoidal in shape, bigger on the bottom than on top, and had a pale blue fiberglass shell. "There's our ticket."
"A porta-potty?" said Briar.
Duke marched to the pale blue shed, whipped open the door, and hopped inside. When he didn't come right back out, I knew he'd found something.
Briar and I jogged over and looked inside. Amazingly, instead of a toilet, we saw what looked like a silver elevator door. Duke stood in front of it, staring at a numbered keypad mounted at waist level on the dark blue frame.
"What the hell?" said Briar.
"This is one exclusive club." I stepped inside. "Anyone have the secret PIN number handy?"
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